Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Sunday
afternoon at the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church in Detroit, MI. family, friends, and Detroit jazz musicians bade goodbye to a royal figure in Detroit’s jazz community concert promoter James Ruffner. Last week, Ruffner, 73, died of prostate cancer.

Ruffner was a
tireless advocate of Detroit jazz. Through his annual concert series the Jazz
Forum held at the Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church, he showcased the genius of
many Detroit jazz musicians. He began the series in 1990 and over the years,
it became popular.

A few years after he began the series, Ruffner
opened a mom-and-pop record label Alembic Records. Detroiters Don Mayberry, Ange
Smith, Steve Woods, Kate Patterson and Shahida Nurrullah were signed.

Bassist Marion Hayden organized the tribute and saxophonist Steve Woods was the master of ceremony. Many Detroit jazz
musicians who benefited from Ruffner selfless advocacy performed and shared their personal recollections of Ruffner.

When the musicians spoke about how Ruffner impacted their careers, they painted him as a jazz humanitarian comfortable operating
behind the scene, making sure they always had an outlet for their music. Ruffner largess
extended to the musician’s family members. Pianist Gary Schunk's and Hayden's sons worked at Ruffner's production company.

The musical
part of the memorial ran two hours and felt like one
of Ruffner’s Jazz Forum concerts. Vocalists Barbara Ware, Kate Patterson and
Shahida Nurullah voices gave the attendees goose bumps. Saxophonists Vincent
Bowen, Russ Miller, and George Benson rocked the church.

A native of
Grosse Pointe, MI, Ruffner grew up in a musical family, but he never aspired to be
a musician. He developed an interest in jazz as a teen. At Ohio State University, he promoted jazz concerts. He served in
the Air Force and attended graduate school.

Ruffner believed jazz would fit anyplace. He even convinced the pastor of Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church to start a jazz series. As a bigwig at the Greystone Jazz Museum, he helped raise funds to put on jazz concerts in schools, libraries, senior
living centers and Hart Plaza. .

Toward the end of the tribute, Schunk summed up Ruffner's
impact on Detroit’s jazz community. Schunk said jazz musicians aren’t good
at promotion so they needed a man like Ruffner.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Gerald
Clayton is a talented under 30 jazz pianist with a growing body of work as a sideman and as a session leader. On albums co-led by his
dad and uncle bassist John and saxophonist Jeff Clayton, the young Clayton has
proven he can stomp with the big boys. No one familiar with his work would dispute he's undeserving of the accolades
and press he’s received at this leg of his development.

As a session leader, Clayton is laid-back and he likes to cook original music. And he's comfortable playing at a cruise-control tempo,
which is fine and works. Clayton plays beautifully, and stylistically he’s
indebted to the jazz pianist Brad Mehldau. The downside to being infatuated over one
player or one particular style is it’s hard to break. Clayton is stuck in this
Mehldau phase.

Clayton’s albums “two-shades” and “Bond the Paris sessions” were
excellent but not breakthroughs. Last month, Concord Records released Clayton’s debut
for the label “Life Forum,” which many who had their eye on Clayton for a while hoped
would be that breakthrough.

Sadly, “Life Forum” is a letdown. Clayton
borrowed from the pages of the pianist Robert Glasper's and the bassist Esperanza Spalding's playbook. Two players of Clayton's class restless with pure jazz. They are into deluding jazz with other genres. “Life Forum” is all over the place, or an experiment gone awry.

It’s within Clayton’s
rights to stretch out or to challenge himself by experimenting with bigger groups. Honestly, Clayton was coming along swimmingly with his trio
bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Justin Brown. It's hard these days to fine a good
down to earth jazz trio album. Clayton had the right mix.

“Life Forum” has some
special guests. There’s several cuts with vocalists Gretchen Parlato and Sachal
Vasandani. Both are wonderful and have
impressive works as leaders. Unfortunately, Clayton didn’t give them anything exciting
to do.

Both are a bore on this album. On “Dusk Baby,” Vasandani sounds like
smooth jazz vocalist Michael Franks, a career bore. And Clayton teaming Parlato and Sachal on “Like
Water” seemed sensible on paper but the result would make a caffeine junky
drowsy. On other cuts, Clayton relegated them to nothing more than background
vocalists.